Brown Bag Luncheons 2001 to 2005:

Dec 05 Downtown Churches & Synagogues
Nov 05 Pacific Garden Mission
Oct 05 MetraMarket
Sep 05 Restaurateur Howard Davis
Aug 05 Access Living’s New Headquarters
July 05 Heritage and Legacy on Wabash
June 05 Downtown as a College Town
May 05 Plan Commissioner Denise Casalino
Apr 05 350 W. Mart Center
Mar 05 111 South Wacker
Feb 05 Spertus Institute's New Home
Jan 05 Trump International Hotel & Tower
Dec 04 The Production of Fun
Nov 04 Target Comes Downtown
Oct 04 The Chicago Theatre Reborn
Sep 04 What’s Happening on State Street
Jul 04 Northwestern Memorial Hospital Master Plan
Jun 04 Lakeshore East Joel Carlins
May 04 Wi-Fi in Downtown Chicago Jimm Dispensa, Stelios Valavanis, Spiro Papadopolous
Apr 04 Riverside Park Judi Fishman
Mar 04 Michigan Avenue Bridgehouse Museum Laurene von Klan and William McBride
Dec 03 Holidays in the Loop Vince Michael
Nov 03 Monroe Street Fountain Mark Sexton
Oct 03 State Place Michael Tobin
Sep 03 Winners of the Chicago Prize Steve Ward and Daniel Friedman
Aug 03 The Music and Dance Theater Gary M. Ainge
Jul 03 Leveraging Technology for Transportation Planning Michael Schiffer
Jun 03 McCormick Place Expansion Jack A. Johnson and Kim Goluska
May 03 City of the Big Bandwidth Lew Hopkins
Apr 03 Bicycling Downtown Nick Jackson
Mar 03 Downtown as a Movie Set Richard Moskal et al
Feb 03  71 South Wacker Drive Henry Cobb
Jan 03 The Completion of Union Station Don Faloon
Dec 02 Christmas on State Street Robert Ledermann
Nov 02   Third Stream Green William Worn
Oct 02  Noise that Doesn’t Annoy Greg Miller and Johnna Potthoff
Sep 02 Creating Downtown Specific Zoning Jack Swenson
Aug 02  Third Stream Green William Worn
July 02  Public Art in Millennium Park Ed Uhlir et al
June 02 Building Post Industrial Chicago Terry Clarke
May 02  City of the Big Bandwidth II Charlie Catlett
Apr 02  Chicagos Experience with the Freight Rail Industry Miguel d’Escoto
Mar 02  SROs: From “Flop-houses” to Supportive Housing Ellen Sahli et al
Feb 02  Women Building Chicago Rima Lunin Schultz
Jan 02  University Center Student Residence  Joe Antunovich et al
Dec 01  111 S Wacker Tower  The John Buck Company
Nov 01  Urban Ephemera and Events  Mark Shuster
Oct 01  Philanthropists and the Lakefront Museums  Larry Okrent
Sept 01  Chicago’s Political Re-Map  Paul Green
Aug 01  The New Art Institute Addition  Rob Jones
July 01  Reuse of the Old Post Office  Grant Uhlir
June 01  Zoning Reform for Chicago  Ed Kus, Ferhat Zerin of SOM
May 01  City of the Big Bandwidth  Jimm Dispensa et al
April 01  Michigan Avenue Historic District  Brian Goeken, Terry Tatum
March 01  Grant Park Framework Plan  John Henderson, Brad Winick
Feb 01  Downtown Student Residence Halls  Hill Burgess et al
Jan 01  Illinois Center Development Plan  SOM et al

Downtown Churches andSynagogues  Dec 05 Brown Bag Lunch presentation
Suzanne Morgan, President of the Center for Religious Architecture, and Denis McNamara, author of Heavenly City, The Architecture of the Archdiocese of Chicago, discussed downtown churches and synagogues as varied as Grace Place, the Chicago Temple, St Peter's, Chicago Sinai Congregation, and Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church.

Pacific Garden Mission  Nov 05 Brown Bag Lunch presentation
Prominent architect Stanley Tigerman has been working with the Pacific Garden Mission for the design of its new campus at 14th Place and Canal Street. The plans include considerably more space than the present building offers, as well as many contemporary building features such as greenhouses, and a courtyard atrium to provide sunshine yet shelter from the street. The new facility will provide separate facilities for homeless men and women and children, additional facilities for those in training or transition programs, and expanded intake, chapel, and auditorium spaces. The architecture is a reflection of the industrial area around it, with prominent Christian symbology and innovative use of upper level gardens.

MetraMarket  Oct 05 Brown Bag Lunch presentation
Cassandra Jansen Francis, Vice President at U.S. Equities, and Michael J. Sullivan from OWP/P Architects presented the new MetraMarket, which will transorm nearly two full city blocks of underutilized, street level space at Ogilvie Transportation Center. MetraMarket will have a double focus: The train station’s suburban concourse will cater to commuters, while a renovated Randolph Street area will link Chicago’s revived theater district to the east and the growing restaurant district to the west. The 200,000 square foot development will feature 90,000 square feet of retail including a specialty food market, 36,000 square feet of restaurants and parking for 100 cars.

Chicago Restaurateur Howard Davis Sep 05 Brown Bag Lunch presentation
The cofounder of such restaurants as Vivo, Marche, Red Light, Opera and Le Lan described Chicago’s transformation from a meat and potatoes town to one of the top culinary cities in America. He described the uncertain beginnings of Vivo, Gioco and Opera, in pioneering Market District and South Loop locations, and of Red Light, which combined sophisticated culinary techniques with authentic ethnic cuisine. He noted that Chicago restaurant patrons have become much more accepting of ethnic cuisine and sophisticated culinary techniques, such as greater use of natural juices, broths and vegetables. Concepts Davis is currently exploring include a new type of Italian restaurant, with lighter food and small plates, and other authentic Asian concepts.

Access Living’s New Headquarters Aug 05 Brown Bag Lunch presentation
Marca Bristo, President & CEO of Access Living, and Jack Catlin and Carrie Callahan of LCM Architects described the innovative new building for Access Living, a center for independent living for people with all types of disabilities. The architects described the building as a “statement of inclusion,” emphasizing that disabled people are part of the larger community. Accessible elements start at the entrance, with a midblock vehicular drop-off and tactile strip leading to the front entrance and automatic doors at a 6-foot setback from the street, so passers-by don’t accidentally acitivate them. The building’s workstations were designed in collaboration with Steelcase, with one-touch open and close storage bins, no supports under the counters and a larger turning radius to allow easy wheelchair movement. Important safety features in the building include client rest areas near stairways with a 2-hour fire rating and a 2-way communication device. The building is expected to be completed in October 2006 at a cost comparable to other downtown office buildings.

Heritage and Legacy on Wabash July 05 Brown Bag Lunch presentation
Richard A. Hanson of Mesa Development discussed The Heritage at Millennium Park and The Legacy at Millennium Park, proposed for 60 E. Monroe. The 634-foot Heritage includes 365 condos and four floors of retail/commercial space, with all but the second floor fully leased. The Pedway level will also be lined with retail. As part of the project, several façades on Wabash were restored, including replacement of cast iron, stone and terra cotta. On September 20, a new Richard Hunt sculpture titled “We Will” will be unveiled on Randolph.

Mesa is currently planning The Legacy, a 71-story glass tower with 350 units, 41,000 square feet of space for the School of the Art Institute and space for the University Club. Three buildings formerly owned by the School of the Art Institute will be demolished, but their facades preserved, similar to the Heritage. Mesa has purchased air rights over the buildings on Michigan Avenue, so no buildings will ever be built there. Hanson praised Millennium Park’s positive economic impact: Heritage and Legacy, will generate $12 million per year in additional tax revenue and expects new development spurred by Millennium Park to eventually generate $100 million per year in tax revenue.

Downtown as a College Town June 05 Brown Bag Lunch presentation
Tom Fuechtmann, Executive Director of DePaul University’s Office of Community and Government Relations, discussed a recent study showing that downtown Chicago is one of the nation’s largest college campuses. Two dozen institutions in the central and south Loop have more than 50,000 students, 3,789 dormitory beds and over 7.5 million square feet of space. Higher education in the Loop has a regional economic impact of $1.2 billion. The study identified how students can be better served, including initiatives like a proposed “Loop Learning Center,” with shared common areas for students, collaborating on student recruitment, or possibly a unified brand to market the Loop to students.

Plan Commissioner Denise Casalino May 05 Brown Bag Lunch presentation
After 14 months on the job, Commissioner Casalino presented an overview of the planned development process and discussed several PDs currently under consideration. First up: Block 37, anchored by CBS Television and a CTA station offering express service to both airports. Retail tenants include: Banana Republic, Sisley, Boggi Milano, David Barton Gym, Lucky Strike Lanes and Rosa Mexicano restaurant. The city will share in the project’s profits. Other major projects discussed include condominium high-rises at Indiana & Roosevelt, State & Randolph, Lake Shore Drive & Grand and Wabash & Monroe; the Home Depot on Roosevelt Road and the Pacific Garden Mission at 14th & Canal.

Responding to a question about her proudest accomplishment, she mentioned the attraction or retention of such employers as USG and Synovate, as well as many smaller successes in the neighborhoods. She identified the proliferation of car ownership among city residents as one of the most significant challenges.

350 West Mart Center Apr 05 Brown Bag Lunch presentation
William Noonan, vice president and general manager of 350 West Mart Center, will discuss conversion of the Apparel Center to an office building, the new home of the Sun Times. The 1975 building by Skidmore Owings & Merrill has recently undergone a dramatic conversion, including new windows overlooking the Chicago River and a westward extension of the Merchandise Mart’s roadway.

111 South Wacker Mar 05 Brown Bag Lunch presentation
Representatives from the John Buck Company and Lohan Caprile Goettsch Architects presented plans for 111 South Wacker Drive, a 51-story office tower now under construction at the southeast corner of Wacker and Monroe. With the signing of RR Donnelley the building is over 80% leased, will have approximately one million rentable square feet, and a 389-stall parking garage. The latest building info can be found at www.111southwacker.com.

Spertus Institute’s New Home Feb 05 Brown Bag Lunch presentation
Dr. Howard Sulkin, president of the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies, and Mark Sexton of Krueck & Sexton Architects, described the new home for Spertus. The new building will house a graduate school, library, museum, shop, auditorium, administrative offices and public spaces in a 10-story building. The vacant site is within the Historic Michigan Boulevard District.

Sexton described “folding the plane” of the building’s façade to bring light into the interior of the building and echo the bay windows on many of the historic Michigan Avenue buildings. He described the façade as pulling in light during the day and projecting light at night. The building includes a central light well and a small garden at the top of the building that will be a unique semipublic space.

City approval is still needed, but the Landmarks Division has endorsed the project. Groundbreaking is expected by Fall 2005, with a 20-month construction schedule. Spertus plans to put its current building up for sale.

Trump International Hotel & Tower Jan 05 Brown Bag Lunch presentation
Nicholas Kent of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, project manager for the Trump International Hotel & Tower, showed plans for the project. At 1,125 feet, it will be the city’s fourth tallest building. The unique site offers unobstructed views east along the Chicago River and north and south on Wabash. The original plan, developed in 2001, called for a 3 million square foot office component. In the final plan, the office space has been replaced with 461 condominium units and 224 hotel rooms.

The project is over 80% sold, and condo units have set a new market high of over $1000 per square foot. The hotel rooms, which are also being sold to individual buyers, are selling for over $1200 per square foot. Hotel room buyers will be able to rent their rooms out through the Trump Hotel management. The project includes redesign of the walkway west of the Wrigley Building, reconstruction of the Wabash Avenue viaduct, and a new plaza at the foot of Rush Street. First occupancy is expected in 2008, with final completion in 2009.

The Production of Fun Dec 04 Brown Bag Lunch presentation
What is the relationship between event and place? How does Chicago’s history determine how and what we celebrate? Jim Law and Cheryl Hughes of the Mayor’s Office of Special Events provided a behind-the-scenes look at Chicago’s spectacles, celebrations, and festivals.

Target Comes Downtown Nov 04 Brown Bag Lunch presentation
Rich Varda, Target’s Vice President of Store Planning and Design, discussed plans for new Target stores in urban locations in Chicago and other cities. Varda showed plans for a new Target store proposed for Lake Shore East in Downtown Chicago and discussed the recently opened South Loop store. He began with a video presentation on Target’s philosophy of Design Democracy, bringing good design to everyone through the product line, marketing and store design. He showed images of Target’s new stores, pointing out façade treatments, pedestrian-friendly features, and reuse of existing store sites as examples of Target’s approach. Area stores shown include the Brickyard, a reuse of a regional shopping center; Harlem-Irving Plaza, a two-level store with parking on the roof and the new South Loop store, a two-level store at Clark & Roosevelt with structured parking and a green roof. Preliminary discussions are under way for a store in Lake Shore East.

The Chicago Theatre Reborn Oct 04 Brown Bag Lunch presentation
Larry Wilker and Bill Becker of Theater Dreams, new owners of the Chicago Theatre, discussed plans for the theater and the adjacent Page Brothers Building, as well as plans for shows and productions coming to the stage in 2004 and 2005

What's Happening on State Street Sep 04 Brown Bag Lunch presentation
Ty Tabing, executive director of the Greater State Street Council, gave an update on State Street projects:
• Block 37 plans include an office tower, a hotel, and an apartment tower above a shopping podium, with a lower level station for CTA airport express trains.
• The Joffrey Ballet project at the northeast corner of State and Lake now includes rental office space on the upper stories; fundraising and design are ongoing.
• The off-track betting facility in the Page Brothers Building will be moving to River North; the city is negotiating sale of the building to the new owners of the Chicago Theatre.
• ABC Channel 7 will be converting most of its State/Lake retail spaces to an interactive street-level TV studio.
• At the northeast corner of State and Randolph, Smithfield Properties is planning a modern condo tower designed by Larry Booth.
• The former Toys-R-Us will be reconfigured and subdivided for multi-tenant retail use.
• The North American Building at State/Monroe is being marketed as Metropolis, condos with two levels of retail.
• The Palmer House has changed its retail brokerage, and will be looking to upgrade the shops. Next door, the little building that houses the Beef and Brandy restaurant is for sale—asking price $4 million.
• The Century Building at State and Adams is slated for redevelopment by the Kimpton Hotel Group, who operate the Hotel Monaco, the Allegro, and the Burnham Hotel.
• Pritzker Park will be redesigned to be an “urban quad,” serving the library and nearby universities.

Northwestern Memorial Hospital Master Plan Jul 04 Brown Bag Lunch presentation
Just five years after opening, Northwestern’s new hospital has already exceeded 10-year growth projections. Now on the drawing boards at the NU Hospital Campus in Streeterville is a new women’s hospital, to open in 2007. Significant differences in health care needs provide an ongoing rationale for a hospital focused on women’s health. In addition, Prentice Women’s Hospital boasts the nation’s 12th largest maternity ward: by 2011 an estimated 13,000 babies will be born there annually. Nearby is the former Veteran’s Administration Lakeside Medical Center property. In October 2003, NU submitted a bid for the property, but no decisions have been made. The CBS Studio property is also for sale and NU has also expressed interest. Audience members asked about the current Prentice building, designed by noted architect Bertram Goldberg. The hospital will have use of the building until 2010, when ownership of the structure will revert to the university. The building is not as yet protected by any historic designation or landmark status.

Lakeshore East Jun 04 Brown Bag Lunch presentation
Lakeshore East is a 26-acre mixed used development of homes (both low-rise and high-rise), retail, and recreation space with a public six-acre park and a public school. It is located in the unfinished portion of Illinois Center, east of Columbus. Overall the land plan has about 45% developed land, 45% open space and approximately 10% streets. The master plan, by SOM and James Burnett and Associates, received a 2002 National Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects for excellence in urban design. Among the site’s development challenges is the multi-level street system: Columbus, Randolph, and Wacker are all three-level streets. The design strives for access to the site, for autos and pedestrians, as well as movement among the levels. The park is now under construction, to be completed in Fall 2004. An adjacent school will be designed by OWP&P for 400 children. The projected buildout is 10 to 15 years, dependent on absorption and density. Residential buildings are designed by several different architects, including Loewenberg Associates, DeStefano + Partners, and Solomon Cordwell Buenz & Associates.

Wi-Fi in Downtown Chicago May 04 Brown Bag Lunch presentation
As the number of free Wi-Fi hot-spot locations spreads rapidly across public spaces, municipalities and grassroots organizations feel obligated to view Wi-Fi as a cost-free public good. Starbucks charges $6 per hour for Wi-Fi access, but you can get it for free across the street under the Picasso, compliments of the City of Chicago. Jimm Dispensa and guest panelists Stelios Valavanis and Spiro Papadopolous gave an overview of Wi-Fi technology and a forward look at the intersection of Downtown Chicago and advanced wireless technologies.

Riverside Park Apr 04 Brown Bag Lunch presentation
Judi Fishman of Rezmar Development gave a presentation on Riverside Park, the large-scale mixed-use development planned for the site south of Roosevelt Road between the Chicago River and Clark Street. The development plan covers 62 acres and at one point included an IKEA store. The reuse of this former railyard presents many planning opportunities and challenges—such as a newly accessible riverfront, and east-west connections to the rest of the city.

Michigan Avenue Bridgehouse Museum   Mar 04 Brown Bag Lunch presentation
A new museum being created in the bridgehouse at the southwest corner of Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive will educate visitors about the history of the Chicago River, its value to the area, and visions for its future. Friends of the River Executive Director Laurene von Klan and William McBride, McBride Kelley Baurer, architects for the museum project, will present the history of the museum’s development and the plans for the five floors of exhibits which will present the River’s past, present and future. The exhibits will also include descriptions of the Michigan Avenue Bridge and all of the river’s bridges.

Holidays in the Loop   Dec 03 Brown Bag Lunch presentation
Vince Michael of the School of the Art Institute Historic Preservation program took us on a journey through time exploring the traditions of “Holidays in the Loop.” The Loop has always been the focus of special celebrations, not just Christmas, but this time of year it’s hard to imagine anything else. Early Chicago was like a big rough party where the fun-loving French didn’t need the excuse of a holiday to celebrate. Something about winter inspires special efforts; early residents used ice sleds on the river to transport revelers from party to party. For Chicago merchants, Christmas has always been about merchandise. Only more recently has it became a holiday that featured no work: in 1902 clerks who wanted a day off on Christmas were docked a day’s pay. Even though we generally don’t work at our jobs on the holiday, all that shopping is labor intensive!

Monroe Street Fountain   Nov 03 Brown Bag Lunch presentation
Mark Sexton, principal of the Chicago architectural firm Krueck Sexton Architects, talked about a spectacular water feature that will be located within Millennium Park at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Monroe Street. Starting, literally, with a “dream”: a 3-minute computer animation conceived by the Spanish artist Jaume Plensa that was selected as the winning entry in the competition to design a fountain for Millennium Park. Sexton discussed the challenges and rewards of working with the artist and professionals in a wide range of disciplines to try and bring the artist’s concept to life. The fountain is composed of two nearly 50-foot-tall towers made out of solid glass bricks, all cast by hand, sitting in a shallow reflecting pool. Inside the towers a huge LED screen will present the faces of 1000 different Chicagoans. In a modern reinterpretation of a gargoyle spouting water in fountains of old, the faces will slowly pucker up and spout water. This one-of-a-kind combination of LED technology, lighting and water is currently under construction and will open sometime in late 2004.

State Place    Oct 03 Brown Bag Lunch presentation
Michael Tobin, Vice President at Northern Realty, described State Place, a residential development now under construction on the site of the former police headquarters at State and Roosevelt. The development team has recently grown to include Canyon Johnson Urban Fund, of whom the “Johnson” is former Lakers basketball star Magic Johnson. The 243-unit residential and retail project was conceived as a “North Side building” in the South Loop, with a mix of residential product types, neighborhood level retail uses and a slate of full services and amenities, such as an outdoor pool, private green space, guest parking, etc. The form is a parking podium stretching from 11th to Roosevelt, with continuous retail frontage along State, topped by a high rise tower at 11th and three midrise buildings to the south. The base has been designed to resemble individual buildings in a streetscape that evolved over time. Atop the parking levels, at about the fourth floor, is a continuous outdoor space including common green spaces, private gardens, and an outdoor pool. The retail space and mid-rise homes should open in October of 2004, with final completion slated for February 2005.

Winners of the Chicago Prize   Sep 03 Brown Bag Lunch presentation
Steve Ward, AIA design committee co-chair, described the Chicago Prize, intended to bring focus to sites identified in the Central Area Plan. Professor Daniel Friedman of UIC, who served on the competition jury, described its deliberations, which focused on two key elements: how the entries engaged with the typology of parking, and how they addressed the fabric of Chicago and the Chicago architectural tradition. These elements produced unusual results: not one clear winning team but two co-winners and one honorable mention. The Chicago-based co-winners were Dan Rappel, Isabella Gould and Kevin Schellenbach. Their scheme was based on “REDUCTION” and exhibited principles of sustainable development. The required program of a 1,000-spot parking garage was cut by half, while still accommodating the same population, by making it available for car pools only. It extends like woven fabric over the highway, and is intended to be a “passive green machine.” It not only reclaims air space and provides new green areas but is also designed to clean the air of auto emissions and naturally scoop fresh air through the subterranean structure.

The Music and Dance Theater   Aug 03 Brown Bag Lunch presentation
Gary M. Ainge, architect with Hammond Beeby Rupert Ainge, discussed the evolution and features of the new 1500-seat Irving and Joan Harris Theater for Music and Dance now under construction on East Randolph Street in Millennium Park. The theater primarily is underground, with only its entrance vestibule visible from the street level, and shares backstage facilities such as loading access, rehearsal rooms and dressing rooms with the new Frank Gehry-designed music pavilion. Portions of the exterior structure feature black glass embedded with photovoltaic cells that will send electricity into the city power grid. To accommodate varying artistic needs, the interior walls of the auditorium feature roll-down banners, which dampen the house for recorded music. The proscenium stage opening is 30 feet by 40 feet. The theater opens on November 8, 2003, and will feature several days of public events and tours of the facility.

Leveraging Technology for Transportation Planning   July 03 Brown Bag Lunch presentation
Professor Michael Schiffer gave a presentation that made stunning use of technology. Imagine that you can click on a CTA map and then take a virtual ride down that track, swivel your view to see the station surroundings, and then click again and get ridership demographics for that same station. This is the level of sophistication that is now in use for the CTA’s planning purposes. These technological tools are informing decisions on such initiatives as the proposed Circle Line, a 6.6-mile connector that would link various CTA and Metra lines making extensive use of existing infrastructure, and new lakefront bus routes based on where population growth has been taking place and actual ridership levels.

McCormick Place Expansion   June 03 Brown Bag Lunch presentation
Jack A. Johnson, of MPEA, and Kimbal T. Goluska, of Chicago Consultants Studio spoke about the next expansion for McCormick Place. Despite the economic downturn, Chicago is seeing an increase in demand from mid-sized shows, medical shows, and simultaneous related topic shows both large and small. This westward expansion will bring the front door of McCormick Place right into the city fabric at historic Motor Row. Urban design parameters within the overall master plan for expansion call for a more pedestrian oriented use of spaces, and a stepping down in density and mass to meet the city streets to the west in a compatible way. Buildout will be completed by 2007.

City of the Big Bandwidth   May 03 Brown Bag Lunch presentation
Chicago has no shortage of plans. What’s missing is an understanding of how the Internet and information technology can provide new opportunities to increase our communitiesâ ability to use these plans to shape discussions and make decisions. Prof. Lew Hopkins of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign demonstrated the capabilities of “plan use interfaces” and “plan markup languages,” and discussed the benefits of these new, electronically mediated, community/planner collaboration tools.

Bicycling Downtown    Apr 03 Brown Bag Lunch presentation
Nick Jackson of the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation discussed the challenges of biking downtown, and what the city and other agencies are doing to make it easier. He talked about the number of bike racks placed on sidewalks over the last 10 years, the number of dedicated bike lanes added to city streets in an ongoing program, and projects under way including the Bike Station at Millennium Park and the Navy Pier Flyover to reduce accidents at a trouble spot next to Lake Point Tower.

Downtown as a Movie Set   Mar 03 Brown Bag Lunch presentation
Moderator Richard Moskal began the program with a 9-minute video, which featured clips from dozens of films made in Chicago, and testimonials from stars like Joan and John Cusak, on the virtues of filming here. Mr. Moskal, director of the Chicago Film Office, was joined on the panel by Brady Breen, the location manager for Road to Perdition and Noel Olken, location manager for The Company directed by Robert Altman. Some films or TV shows still just use Chicago as a backdrop and come to town for a few key exterior scenes; like “ER”; but increasingly, entire films are being made in Chicago with all local talent. Six or seven years ago, just a handful of independent films were shot in Chicago annually, but in the last few years the number has increased to more than 20 a year. Production designers love to shoot films in downtown Chicago, and on LaSalle Street in particular. One shot from “The Road to Perdition,” a long view down LaSalle Street, took months to arrange, a day to shoot, and was on screen for about 20 seconds. Timing had to be coordinated with the Wacker Drive reconstruction schedule, permits and permissions needed to be secured, LaSalle and all the cross streets were closed, space for trucks and equipment needed to be secured, several hundred extras in period costume needed to be dressed, positioned and fed, and any modern signs needed to be removed. Over 150 antique autos filled the street, and period rolling stock had been identified, but when all was said and done, the scene was flawed by a modern elevated train racing through the final shot, but was kept in the film. Another shot from the film “Just Visiting” featured a chase scene on horseback right through downtown. The horse went up the Van Buren Street L station and right on to a CTA train. No small feat, and impossible to accomplish without very cooperative and accommodating public agencies.

71 South Wacker Drive   Feb 03 Brown Bag Lunch presentation
Henry N. Cobb, founding partner of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners (New York), presented his firm’s design for the Hyatt Center, now under construction at 71 South Wacker Drive, discussing how security concerns can be balanced with his previously expressed interest in how skyscrapers can be contributors to the street life of the city. He showed how the building’s striking design, with boat-shaped floorplates, stems from programmatic requirements of the tenants. Cobb also showed the new Federal District Courthouse designed by his firm in Hammond, as part of a discussion of courthouses and the public realm.

The Completion of Union Station   Jan 03 Brown Bag Lunch presentation
A capacity crowd filled the 5th floor of the Cultural Center to hear Don Faloon of Prime Group Realty Trust talk about an ambitious real estate development project to restore, redevelop and add a tower to the historic Union Station. Daniel Burnham’s 1912 sketch for Union Station was a three-story building, but by 1919 the design included to have a 22-story tower on top of the base, Alas, after adding 100 caissons to the foundation to support the taller structure, the station you see today was completed in 1925 with just the eight-story base. The structural columns were simply capped off at that level. Today the station upper stories are largely vacant and functionally obsolete for office uses, due to antique wiring, visual obstructions, and other problems.

The mixed-use project features a retail base with 72,000 square feet, 200 underground parking spaces, a conference center in the upper levels of the base, a 300 room hotel, 11 levels of office use with 520,000 square feet, and six levels of residential space with 130 units. The office tower will be among the most technologically advanced in the nation, and the development will be seeking the highest level of rating (platinum) for environmental/green design standards. The architect for the project is Lucien Lagrange and Associates. The new tower is likely to be constructed of a pre-cast masonry to mimic the original limestone of the base. The plan is to conduct some restoration of the station base, which has been designated a Chicago Landmark. The developers have requested $18.5 million in tax increment financing.

Christmas on State Street   Dec 02 Brown Bag Lunch presentation
Bob Ledermann gave a wonderful overview of Christmas on State Street: 1940’s and Beyond. The journey down memory lane began with what is long gone from State Street: the State-Lake Theater (now Channel 7 TV studios) and Fritzel’s at State and Lake, where stars like Marilyn Monroe could be seen at the piano bar. How about the beloved Carson’s Heather House restaurant, the Benson-Rixson store or Lytton’s, where the Christmas dress code was a bright red vest with shiny brass buttons given to sales people as their holiday bonus. But everyone’s favorite is the Christmas windows. Did you know that the Weiboldt’s Christmas Cinnamon Bear character had a daily radio show airing daily between Thanksgiving and Christmas? Other charming Christmas-themed characters who inhabited department store windows include Marshall Field’s Uncle Mistletoe and Aunt Holly, and “Freddy field mouse” and his cohorts Franklin, Forrester, Flora and Fannie.

Noise that Doesn’t Annoy    Oct 02 Brown Bag Lunch presentation
Johnna Potthoff, the Assistant Commissioner of the City of Chicago Department of Environment, outlined the areas covered by the city’s noise ordinance and regulations. She described early morning construction noise and loud music as two of the most common complaints, especially with the increasing number of residential developments. She explained that parades and concerts and other permitted public events are exempted from the City’s ordinary noise limitations. However, these permits normally contain conditions concerning the time of use, and other limits particular to the site. The city has a noise hotline, 312-744-7672, where complaints can be called in and an inspector will investigate each complaint. Greg Miller and Jonathan Laney of The Talaske Group, outlined the types of noise protection generally available, gave a brief primer on some of the unexpected ways that sound acts, and related some of the issues addressed by the sound control in the design of the Millennium Park bandshell. Greg described some of the typical sound issues that occur in downtown buildings, and the types of solutions that are available. Jonathan described the plan to spread loudspeakers for the Millennium Park concerts throughout the trellis to be suspended over the lawn, causing the sound to surround the audience, rather than projecting it from the stage.

Creating Downtown-Specific Zoning    Sep 02 Brown Bag Lunch presentation
Jack Swenson of the Mayor’s Zoning Reform Commission discussed the proposals for a new, downtown-speciÞc zoning framework with four new districts:
» A Downtown Core (DC) district that would support the Loop’s regional role as a primary hub for business, communications, ofÞce, government, retail, cultural, educational, entertainment, and tourist activity.
» A Downtown Mixed-Use (DX) district that would accommodate mid- to high-rise ofÞce, commercial, public, institutional, and residential development in areas that are well-served by transit and within walking distance of the Downtown Core (DC) district.
» A Downtown Residential (DR) district that would support moderate- to high-density residential development and low-intensity, ground-ßoor commercial uses that have housing located on upper stories.
» A Downtown Service (DS) district that would accommodate commercial and service uses. In this district, new residential development would not be allowed and standards would be included to ensure that uses in the district did not create problems for their neighbors.

Public Art in Millennium Park   Jul 02 Brown Bag Lunch presentation
Ed Uhlir, Valentine Judge and Nathan Mason hosted a lively presentation on the permanent public art planned for inclusion within Chicago’s Millennium Park and the current temporary exhibit "Earth From Above" now on view in the Park thru September 15, 2002. Consciously deviating from the traditional "soldier on a horse" model that uses sculptures and fountains as memorials, Millennium Park will feature artworks that are interactive in that they can be viewed in a number of provocative, always changing ways. Uhlir discussed the processes that produced the commissions for the important art projects that will grace Millennium Park, such as the Anish Kapoor-designed sculpture; the Jaume Plensa-created fountain; the Kathryn Gustafson-conceived Garden; and the Frank Gehry-designed Music Pavilion.

Building Post Industrial Chicago   Jun 02 Brown Bag Lunch presentation
Terry Clarke, professor of sociology at the University of Chicago, and coordinator of the Fiscal Austerity and Urban Innovation Project has been working on an “Oral History and Global Interpretation of a Half-Century of Chicago Politics, from Mayor Daley I to Mayor Daley II” called Trees and Real Violins: Building Post Industrial Chicago. Professor Clarke gave the Friends of Downtown a taste of his work which ranged from an analysis of the shift in mayoral styles from the mid 1950s to the present; to a chart illustrating how economic factors combined with social factors have contributed to a whole new political culture in Chicago.

Chicago—City of the Big Bandwidth   May 02 Brown Bag Lunch presentation
Friends of Downtown board member Jimm Dispensa welcomed Charlie Catlett to a continuing series of “Big Bandwidth” Brown Bag lunch forums. Mr. Catlett is a senior fellow at Argonne National Laboratories and project director of I-WIRE (the Illinois Wired/Wireless Infrastructure for Research and Education). What most ordinary citizens think of as the Internet today (dial-up modem access, email, web browsing and occasional online shopping) can be referred to as the Internet’s “infancy phase.” But dozens of other non-commercial networks have sprung up, networks that represent the Internet’s “toddler years.” Ordinary citizens should expect to see some of the advantages of “Internet 2” in the next several years.

These non-commercial “next-generation” networks connect research institutions and universities, and some of the more prominent networks are have interconnections in and around Chicago. The I-WIRE network is series of fiber optic links connecting Argonne, Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, the Illinois Institute of Technology, the University of Illinois at Chicago and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Importantly, I-WIRE includes several non-Illinois “nodes” such as the University of California at San Diego and the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. I-WIRE is being viewed by many as the most advanced digital network project in the world today. One of the main advantages of a network like I-Wire is its ability to attract businesses to Chicago. Although an entire business does not have to physically move its offices or operations to Chicago to take advantage of I-Wire, the opportunity exists for Chicago to market its “advanced computational infrastructure” to the worlds leading scientists and researchers. It is common knowledge that Chicago is the leading telecom hub in the United States and, in the case of advanced research networks, Chicago is a global hub. See Catlett’s presentation here.

Chicago’s Experience with the Freight Rail Industry   Apr 02 Brown Bag Lunch presentation
Commissioner Miguel d’Escoto of CDOT related the experience of Chicago’s Department of Transportation with the freight rail industry. Chicago is a rail hub of the nation. By design, nearly all of the eastern rail lines and western rail lines either terminate or begin in Chicago. By virtue of this design, a large percentage of the national freight rail traffic passes through Chicago. There are positive and negative impacts on Chicago. The 12 local freight railroads cover nearly 16,000 acres, employ 37,600 workers, run 1,200 daily trains, and contribute to the local economy. However, some of the negative impacts are significant and include: Noise, Air Quality, Fly Dumping (many clean right-of-way just once a year), Traffic Delays (at 900 at-grade crossings), Wear and tear on roads from trucks loaded with rail containers, and Conflicts with passenger rail and other surface transportation. For example, there are conflicts with Metra, which runs over 700 daily trains, because many of their lines use the same crossings or tracks as the 12 private freight railroads in Chicago. Some of these conflicts can be rather severe. During the blizzard of 1999, when rail lines were not sufficiently cleared, Chicago’s freight rail system locked up completely, and the entire national rail system was merely hours away from complete gridlock! Another issue is the far-flung, fragmented ownership of the local rail infrastructure and the trend to move dispatch of trains to remote locations. In addition, rail infrastructure in enormously expensive. To add a fly-over at a four-way crossing, the costs can be over $60 million. Progress on major capital investments can also be maddeningly slow: for over 35 years the city has been trying to get the railroads to relocate rail traffic from the St. Charles Air Line, and remove this little used impediment to redevelopment.

SROs: From “Flop-houses” to Supportive Housing   Mar 02 Brown Bag Lunch presentation
A panel consisting of: Ellen Sahli, Senior Program Director for SRO and Supportive Housing in Chicago’s Department of Housing, Joe O’Connor, Executive Director of the Chicago Christian Industrial League, and Jean Butzen, President of Lakefront SRO, led a very spirited discussion of the evolution of SROs over the past several decades. While Chicago—along with most other major American cities—lost a majority of their existing SRO housing stock during the 1960s and 1970s, many of these units were very minimal ones originally intended to provide temporary housing for transient workers. A significant percentage of the current SRO housing stock is of the newer "supportive housing" variety, in which the SRO housing is seen as a component of the broader range of social services and employment skills offered to tenants to help reintegrate them from SRO housing back into their families and communities.

Joe and Jean described how the business of developing and managing successful SRO is in some regards similar to any other real estate development business: piecing together financing sources, fitting into their host communities, and establishing sound management practices. However, SROs have the additional challenges of a clientele with few options or resources, the mission of providing social as well as housing services, and often a higher degree of community scrutiny.

Jean showed images of Lakefront SRO’s new South Loop Apartments. Not only does this development provide a full complement of social services—open to more than just the building’s tenants—but the development itself has won architectural awards for its design quality and its graceful blending into its host neighborhood. Part of the success of this and other successful new SRO developments may be attributed to working with the community throughout the planning of the development. More information on the panelists may be found at their websites: Lakefront SRO
Chicago Christian Industrial League
Chicago Department of Housing

Women Building Chicago   Feb 02 Brown Bag Lunch presentation
Rima Lunin Schultz gave a slide lecture based on the newly released reference work entitled Women Building Chicago. Ms. Schultz challenged us to think about what it means to build the city Ð beyond the concept of assembling the bricks and mortar. The image is a potent one—women as “municipal housekeepers”—that women’s civic efforts were a natural outgrowth and extension of their traditional role in the home. In Chicago history women played key roles in the founding of institutions such as hospitals, schools, and settlement houses. These enterprising women identified a need, conceived solutions, raised the funds, and then ran the institutions. We all know about Jane Adams and Hull-House, but did you know that this was a large complex of 13 buildings? Medical schools admitted few women in that time so women founded, funded and built entire hospitals so that women could be trained in the health care professions. Women also played a key role in introducing modern art to Chicago. What the more established institutions could not show in their hallowed halls, women collected and exhibited in more emerging and daring spaces like the Arts Club. Copies of Women Building Chicago, of which Ms. Schultz is a co-editor, were for available for sale (and signing) at the end of the lecture.

University Center Student Residence    Jan 02 Brown Bag Lunch presentation
Proposed for the southeast corner of State and Congress, the University Center will be a 16-story building housing 1700 students from three schools: Roosevelt University, DePaul University and Columbia College. Architect Joe Antunovich of Antunovich & Associates presented plans for the building which has a retail base along State and Congress, a third story roof garden, music practice rooms, lounge areas, and dwelling units for students. The student residences range from “double-doubles” to four bedroom suites. Interestingly, the building has no parking since it is projected that the students will not have cars and the retail area will not be “destination” shopping. In addition, the schools’ research indicates that virtually none of the likely student inhabitants will own cars.

The panelists from each University detailed the evolution of the project over the years, which at one point was much larger, and included a parking garage and classroom space. The project at one time was slated to be on a larger L-shaped parcel, however, the CTA has plans to straighten out the severe curve of the elevated train tracks over Wabash and Harrison. The CTA plans dictated that the project be trimmed down to occupy only the original city-owned parcel west of Holden Court. The panelists also talked about the evolution of the project in terms of the unprecedented level of cooperation between three (originally four, before Robert Morris College dropped out of the partnership) different educational institutions. The universities formed a new non-profit entity to own and operate the facility. It will be funded with tax-exempt educational facility bonds. Groundbreaking is expected in June 2002 with completion in time for the Fall semester of 2004. The project is so unique that it has generated interest from all over the country. Obviously other schools and other cities will seek to duplicate the project if it proves to be a success!

111 South Wacker Drive    Dec 01 Brown Bag Lunch presentation
Andrew Nieman, a principal of The John Buck Company, gave a spirited and detailed presentation of their proposed office structure at the southeast corner of Monroe and Wacker. Having just completed the 1.3 million square food office building at Madison and Wacker and opening it 88 percent leased, Buck assembled the same team of Lohan & Associates as arcitect and ESD and others as engineers to design 111 South Wacker. The new building will have the successful features of One South Wacker—larger floor plates, a 45-foot core-to-window depth, a central building conference center and fitness area, and the ability for tenants to have raised floors without sacrificing a nine-foot ceiling height.

However, 111 South Wacker will be quite different than any other building in Chicago. The actual floor plates wil begin 12 stories in the air; the structure from the ground to the 12th floor will be the concrete core clad in granite. Trusses transfer the load of the floors to the core. This structural arrangement allows the office floors to have great views of the surrounding area. The ground floor is still being developed but is envisioned now as a circular glass lobby with the plaza as an exciting public and art space. The Buck Company is presenting the building to tenants and with a major user could start in 2002 to 2003 with completion in 2005.